Rhett Henderson and Jessica Hong, right, who drove from Oakland, take a "selfie" before the start of the chance to be part of a worlds record pinball play on Saturday, Jan.17, 2015. Arcade Expo in Banning, which brought hundreds of vintage pinball machines together and set a world record for the most people playing them on Saturday afternoon.

Video game champion Billy Mitchell, center, poses with pinballers after a worlds record pinball play on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. Arcade Expo in Banning, which brought hundreds of vintage pinball machines together and set a world record for the most people playing them on Saturday afternoon.

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Pinball machine players make a world record pinball play on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. Arcade Expo in Banning, which brought hundreds of vintage pinball machines together and set a world record for the most people playing them on Saturday afternoon.

Players of all ages took part in a world record pinball play on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. Arcade Expo in Banning, which brought hundreds of vintage pinball machines together and set a world record for the most people playing them on Saturday afternoon.

Taryn Berge, 9, of Laguna Hills, literally jumps for joy at the start of the chance to be part of a worlds record pinball play on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015. Arcade Expo in Banning, which brought hundreds of vintage pinball machines together and set a world record for the most people playing them on Saturday afternoon.

Now the 330 participants of an Arcade Expo tournament in Banning on Saturday can add world record holder to their resume.

The event, a destination for lovers of classic arcade games, set a goal of breaking the Guinness World Record for the most people playing pinball at the same time. The previous record was the Texas Pinball Festival’s 272.

Pinball enthusiasts hunched over machines illuminated by images of Elvis, Godzilla and Frankenstein furiously pressing buttons and working levers to keep the steel balls ricocheting off targets on the game’s playing field. All were required to play a full game for the record to count.

For Taryn Berge, 9, the tournament couldn’t start soon enough.

“I’ve never been so excited about a pinball machine,” she said.

The fourth-grader said she loved being a part of setting the record.

“It was a mixture of challenging and fun at the same time,” she said.

Taryn’s dad Eric Berge, 46, said his daughter knows all about world records.

“She has always wanted to break a world record,” said the Laguna Hills resident. “I thought this was the perfect opportunity to break one.”

Berge said he has traveled to Northern California to participate in a similar arcade event but was happy to see one closer to home.

“The love of the hobby,” he said of why he came to the expo. “I love classic gaming, classic arcades.”

Besides the hundreds of pinball machines on hand, visitors of the expos were able to play other classic games, including Pac-Man, Centipede and Joust.

Kenny Hardy, the Arcade Expo’s show director, said the event was created to help promote the Museum of Pinball, which is located at the South Hathaway Street venue where the tournament took place.

Hardy said organizers brainstormed about ways to bring attention to the museum.

“We said, ‘Why don’t we try to break a world record?’” he said. “We have so many pinball machines.”

The line to join in the record-breaking effort trailed around the building, with the room reaching capacity.

“It’s absolutely fantastic,” Hardy said of the turnout. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

For Beaumont resident Bob Griffin, the expo was a chance to spend time with his two grandsons and a friend who restores pinball machines.

Griffin, 67, sporting a gray T-shirt that read “Pinball Til I Die,” said he does not usually play arcade games, but he enjoyed being a part of the record-setting tournament, albeit inadvertently.

“It was accidental,” he said. “I was at the right place at the right time.”